Kane, Kreider steal show for Rangers in Game 2 of Eastern 1st Round

NEWARK, N.J. -- Patrick Kane swiped the puck away from Jesper Bratt. He had open ice in front of him and Chris Kreider to his right.

Skating into the offensive zone, Kane instantly thought of Kreider and the chance to get him the puck. Kreider had two goals. The hat trick was right there for him.
It would have been the ultimate capper on a second straight dominant New York Rangers 5-1 win against the New Jersey Devils in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Prudential Center on Thursday.
"That's the first thing that goes into your mind," Kane said. "But the defenseman] kind of slid, took him away, so it was a chance for me to take it to the net."
A quick deke to his backhand, a roof job over Vitek Vanecek's glove, bardown and in.
Kane chose wisely.
"That's obviously a pretty impressive goal," Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. "I think the whole bench was smiling after that one watching that."
[RELATED: [Complete Devils vs. Rangers series coverage]
As much as Game 2 was a team win for the Rangers, who haven't allowed an even-strength goal in taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series, it really was the Kreider and Kane show.
For Kane, it easily was his best game since coming to the Rangers in a trade from the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 28. It was why they jumped through all kinds of salary cap hoops to get Kane.
He had a goal and two assists. He was demanding the puck and dominant with it on his stick. He had jump. There was excitement to his game, the kind that Blackhawks fans became so used to over the years.
"It's special," Kane said. "It was obviously a tough decision leaving Chicago, but these are the moments. You leave and come to New York for a situation like this. You're on a good team. There's going to be moments in the playoffs where you're called on to step up and try and produce. It was nice to do that tonight. It makes it all worth it."
For Kreider, it was a continuation of what he did in Game 1, when he also scored two power-play goals. The forward has four in the two games, all off deflections from either directly in front or off to the side of the net.
"He's one of the best not only in the League, just that I have ever seen," Kane said of Kreider's net front dominance on the power play. "He's able to get his stick on everything. In practice we do a lot of drills where shots are coming from the point and he just tips everything. He touches everything that comes in. It's tough to cover that on a power play. You don't really ever see defensemen tie up with the net front guy, so if there are lanes to shoot it there's a good chance he's going to deflect it one way or the other and it's going to have a good chance to go in. It adds another dimension to the power play."
Kreider scored most of his 26 power-play goals last season in the exact same fashion as his four in this series. But this season he had only eight power-play goals, a drop that had a lot to do with the fact that the Rangers were looking for Mika Zibanejad's one-timer on the power play.
Zibanejad scored 20 power-play goals this season. The Rangers were seventh in the NHL at 24.1 percent. It's hard to argue with what they did and why.
But Zibanejad is in the bumper position now, Kane and Artemi Panarin are in the circles, and Adam Fox is at the point. They're looking for Kreider again. It's hard to argue with that logic too.
"They're shooting more pucks and Kreider is getting more opportunities to put it in the net," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "The power play was good all year, but right now it's clicking pretty good. We're putting pucks to the net and 'Kreids' gets a chance to chip 'em."
It's working so well that the Devils don't know what to do, challenge up top or keep a body on Kreider.
They chose poorly twice in Game 2.
Ryan Graves left Kreider in front of the net so he could challenge Kane's shot, but he didn't get in the lane and Kreider was open in front for a deflection goal to make it 2-1 Rangers at 9:57 of the second period.
John Marino went into the shot lane, but that left Kreider open to the right side of the net and Kane found him there for a redirection chip off and over Vanecek for a 3-1 lead at 16:00.
"Blown coverage," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said.
Then Kane blew it open with his showtime goal at 6:34 of the third period.
Kreider's hat trick will have to wait for another game.
If the Rangers keep playing like this, they'll be playing a lot of games this spring.